Endorsement watch: Sheriffs

When the incumbent took over four years ago, he faced a particularly daunting job. The sheriff’s office had been plagued by a series of controversies ranging from federal investigation of prisoner deaths in Harris County jails to legal battles about unjustified arrests. Newly elected Sheriff Adrian Garcia had his work cut out for him.

Since then, he has done an impressive job and again deserves to be the Democratic Party’s candidate for sheriff.

In his four years as sheriff, Garcia has guided the office through a hiring freeze with a steady hand and an eye fixed on solutions.

Much-needed reforms at the jail, such as outfitting nonviolent offenders with ankle monitors in lieu of incarceration, and allowing early release for nonviolent offenders in work or education programs, have helped reduce the jail population while also letting prisoners maintain or establish positions as functioning members of society.

Under Garcia’s leadership, Harris County has also ended the expensive practice of outsourcing prisoners to other counties and states.

Sheriff Garcia has done a lot to fix the problems in the office and in the jails, often working against the willful obstruction of County Commissioner Steve Radack. There’s still a lot more to be done, but we’ve come an awful long way in less than 3.5 years. The Chron also endorsed Republican Carl Pittman for the GOP nomination. I don’t know anything about those guys (not yet, anyway) so I don’t have anything to add to that.